Delicately spiced coppery pale ale brings mint-y ginger-herbal freshness to dried fruits and grassy hops. Lively juniper, green apple, and grapefruit souring roll over roasted grain backbone, outlasting sordid sulfuric vapors.
All posts by John Fortunato
ST. PETER’S CREAM STOUT
All St. Peter’s brews bought in unusual small-neck flask-shaped green pint bottles. As best of the bunch, this robust midnight black stout juxtaposes smoked peat, charred oats, burnt toast, and soy milk against lactic sweet chocolate thrust. Silken cappuccino finish picks up roasted coffee bean souring and curt chicory penetration as molasses, vanilla, cookie dough, tobacco chew, and anise illusions gain luster alongside cola-walnut coarsening. Tertiary taffy-cocoa twinge bide time. St. Peter himself sips these at the pearly gates of heaven.
ST. PETER’S BEST BITTER
Up-front rye determination of copper-bronzed bitter lingers way past wheat-cracked barley biscuit confluence and mild chicory sway, finishing with a honeyed Scotch-like warmth.
ST. PAULI GIRL PILSENER
Heavily carbonated pale gold medium body with swanky yeast aroma, lively hop penetration, and hearty Bavarian-styled grains softened by crisp water to soapy off-dry finish. Competing Heineken’s bitter malt-hop fizz and Beck’s darker malted grain insistence prove more assertive. We’d swear this had more distinction in the ’80s when it wasn’t mass produced.
ST. PAULI GIRL DARK PILSENER
Tidy soda-fizzed water texture and strong toasted barley influence give nutty caramelized brown-hazed pilsener its essence. Dry cocoa pungency strengthens resolve, fortifying sweet-sour fluctuations and earthen peat snip to butterscotch-candied finish. Creamier and more assertive than better-known St. Pauli Girl Pilsener.
ST. PAUL ABBEY TRIPLE ALE
Creamy amber-bodied abbey with dotted yeast sediment, oily viscosity, and buttery aroma retains alcoholic sugary malt thickness above supportive butterscotch flow. Sedate pear, nectar, and quince illusions lie in the balance.
ST. PAUL ABBEY DOUBLE ALE
In peculiar small-necked wide-bodied cask, this raisin-esque brown ale goes down like mellow plum wine; bold and determined yet serene and mild. Artisan water adds refreshing silkiness to luxuriant perfume-hopped fig-date souring resonating to earthen peat bottom. Creamy chocolate-covered raisin finish lingers. Perfect aperitif for seafood, lamb, and veal dishes.
ST. LOUIS KRIEK LAMBIC
Luscious sour red cherry theme rises above heavy candi-sugared malting. Mouth-puckering maraschino cherry tartness blends bruised cherry, tannic cherry, and black cherry illusions. Overripe orange tang and cranberry juice souring secure fruited edifice.
ST. LOUIS GUEUZE
Spontaneously fermented orange-hazed lambic stays sweeter, tangier, and flatter than more vinous gueuze types, bringing unexpected passion fruit, mango, quince, and peach ripeness to the fold, yet retaining expected leathery dryness by ester-y white grape finish. Green apple souring tucked beneath sparkling wine fizz and acidic cider tartness.
ST. GEORGEN KELLER PILSENER
Respectable amber-glazed, sweet Scotch-wafted, flat-headed pilsener with mild yeast sinew atop caramelized crystal malt linger. Saaz hops tickle tongue before leaving roasted finish that turns acidic then vapid.
ST. GEORGE PORTER
Exquisite mahogany-hued porter perfectly counters determined espresso bitterness and burnt wood tone with sweet chocolate-cocoa-molasses permanence, settling to daunting creamy mochaccino finish rejuvenating off-dry blackened hop roast.
ST. GEORGE PILSNER
Earthen-grained herbal hops spiral to sunny citric spritz. Glutenous wheat and sticky yeast sinew fortify pale malted bottom end. Just a tad too light and fragile for heartier thirsts.